The Right Word

We're honored that our Magic Words: A Dictionary is cited in Dictionary.com's article, "Wand At The Ready! These Magic Words Will Cast A Spell On You."

From The Gateway, 1973.

From Purple Parrot, 1922.

We're honored that our Magic Words: A Dictionary is cited by Meredith Danko in the Mental Floss article "32 Fascinating Harry Potter Word Etymologies."

As soon as we figure out what it means, we'll be sure to start taking a circumspencive view more often!  From Ghost Trackers Newsletter, 1994. 

"The spirit of Mooselucmaguntic."  (An alternate spelling of Mooselookmeguntic.)  From Scribner's 1877.

Given inflation, $13 in 1927 is more like $200 today.  From Purple Parrot, 1927.

"Fluzation and slurrage" is a Googlewhack.  From Take One magazine, 1968.

To date, the phrase "weary of footnotes" is a Googlewhack  From Dark Shadows episode 299.

If you don't have a firm grip on pronouns, it's likely because you were mistaught.  Take, for example, this terrible sentence in the language textbook City Sidewalks by Bank Street.

Here's what it looks like when your book title is so long that the byline is a parenthetical afterthought.  It's rare to see "wasp-wacking" in a book title, too.  It's the out-of-print King Kid Was Fed Up.  King Kid Was Cross.  King Kid Was Fish-Spitting Mad.  Having To Have a Bath Was Bad Enough, Especially When You Are King, but Having To Wait Was Just Too Wasp-Wacking, Door-Slamming Much.  And Why Was He Mad?  The 5 O'Clock Tour of the Palace Was Still In the Bathroom (by Rozelle Bentheim).

Not only is sentence diagramming rarely taught, but textbooks also no longer mention prune whip.  From The New Building Better English 9, Teacher's Edition, 1955.

From The Adventures of Nancy and Nick in Scrub-Up-Land by Olive Roberts Barton and illustrated by E. R. Higgins, 1921.

The word is "Michiganensian."

Message received: look up the little words, not the big ones.  From The Gates of the Future Thrown Open by Carlotta de Barsy, 1899.

From Junior English in Action.

"Shrdlu, the temperamental turtle" won a speed record of three feet in 59 seconds.  From the University of Omaha's 1954 yearbook.

It's common mistake to begin an acronym with the word itself, simply because that particular word is foremost in one's mind.  Here, the first letters of C.H.A.R.M.S. is "charms."  From The Magic Shop by Maurice Dolbier and illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg.